1473 My Brother-In-Law
The guest mansion where Varian and his wives stayed was now surrounded by imperial soldiers.
These were the finest of the bunch among rank 8s. Most of them were veterans who were at the peak of their craft, excelling in the art of combat as well as command.
But there were also quite a few geniuses among them. Geniuses who would one day become the pillars of the kingdom and make their mark in the history of the kingdom.
Both the young and the old held different views over the present situation.
To the old gingers who lived too many centuries to count, Varian was someone to be controlled or killed, there was no question of even listening to his pleas.
Why?
Because he offended all the dukes of the kingdom.
These old people had been alive even before Isadora even came into picture. While they viewed her as important, they were very rational when it came to decisions like these.
When the dukes announced Isadora was not a divine ranker and might not even be a rank 9, they abandoned all the respect for her and took the most pragmatic decision.
On the other young, the youngsters held a slightly different view. Though they too understood that anyone offending all the dukes basically courted death, they wanted to atleast understand his viewpoint.
Why did he betray the kingdom? What prompted him to mess with even the Fortune Anvil, the lifeblood of Palarians?
Since he went that far, of course, a death penalty was all but light.
Even the younger generation didn't disagree on that. But before killing him, they wanted to understand the reasoning behind such a foolish and dangerous misadventure.
"The space traces from here are scattered in sixteen different directions, ending up in vastly different coordinates."
An inspector lowered his crystalline blue glasses—his natal treasure with space affinity—and said in a cautious tone.
"Sixteen places, you say?"
An old, broken voice sounded. The thin gray hair of the old lady swayed with her words, as if the mere act of her speaking was creating a quiet tempest in the location.
Duchess Seraphina blinked, her eyes, which were old but still burning bright like a flame, were now dull like ashes. But those ashes held within them fury that would burn down the skies and decimate the earth.
"Is there no way for more accuracy?" She moved like a ghost and before the famous rank 9 man could even move, gripped his shoulder with bony, saggy hand.
Click!
The ground under the man cracked and his shoulder nearly dislodged.
The old lady might have noticed but she didn't seem to care. Looking at him with those dead gray eyes, she parted her bloodied lips, her voice dripping with poisonous venom.
"Anything…anything…to…find…them?"
The powerhouse began to sweat at the pressure that kept increasing and when he thought the crazy old bitch might kill him out of anger, she suddenly stopped.
With a wave of her hand, dozens and dozens of treasures, each one rivalling the entire net worth of a rank 9 powerhouse appeared in the air.
The duchess glanced at the treasures she accumulated over her long life. There was a fleeting flash of memories, memories with her granddaughter still alive.
"You can take anything you want." She said in an unfeeling tone.
The onlooking rank 8s who knew about the real worth of the stuff gasped and looked at each other with regretful expressions.
If only they had a space natal treasure...
But the rank 9s felt an omnious foreboding from the duchess' behavior.
Even though it's already announced that Varian's attempt at damaging the Fortune Anvil had failed, the deaths of the geniuses who he fought were not confirmed.
There was only speculation so far.
Some of these rank 9 powerhouses knew that Princess Samantha and Xeola had long reached rank 8 and were concealing their true strength.
They didn't even hold any thoughts that someone like Varian could harm any of the princesses.
Yet, the Duchess' behavior was suggesting otherwise.
It wasn't simply a matter of severe injury, there's a good chance that Princess Xeola was dead.
If that was the case, then not only did Varian dare to appear in front of the duchess after the deed, he escaped!
Of course, it's thanks to some treasures and unknown powerhouse who appeared. Unfortunately, Duchess Serenthia was killed by his nefarious schemes after he took hostage of her daughter princess Sonya.
After pulling off such ridiculous feats, the man was still alive!
Then came the natural question, could they really kill him?
"He is out of his cards." Duke Kriad and Corinthian appeared soundlessly at the top of the mansion.
"Once found, he has nowhere to esacpe." Duke Micheal clenched his fists. "Trust me, that bastard will beg for death."
The hostility of the duke surprised everyone present. Right from the onset, there was no backer to Varian greater than the old man. But before anyone's supporter, even before being the king's minister, he was an out and out patriot, almost to a sickening degree.
Anyone here might have a personal agenda, but Duke Micheal would not. If he did something, it'd be for the interest of the kingdom and the race.
The rank 9 inspector gulped and pulled back his hand that was about to grap a treasure.
With a respectful gaze, he began to check the space traces once again.
If the powers of Order-Chaos had enough time, they might've erased everything. But the dukes, particularly Seraphina moved faster than even Varian expected and broke such chances.
"Three locations, my lord." The inspector bowed his hands and reported.
"You three," Duchess Seraphina pointed to Micheal, Kriad and Corinthian. "Go after those three. And I…I will visit his hometown. Blood for blood."
Every soldier gulped.
A civilization was going to disappear today. Not that it's uncommon but very rarely would a kingdom do such a thing to their subordinate force, a province no less.
As they were about to disperse, a suffocating aura descended from the sky, falling on the entire royal complex.
"You're going nowhere, oldie."
Everyone, from the freshly qualified recruit into the elite troops and the most veteran of soldier at present, and the dukes themselves, looked up at the sky.
A young woman in a long azure robe stood in the sky, a suffocating aura leaking out of her body. It was very unstable, indicating she had just underwent a very taxing fight.
There were injuries on her they couldn't pinpoint but her strength had definitely dropped significantly from her peak.
Yet, even in this state, she exuded strength that was far above anyone present.
Even if all the dukes joined hand, she could still crush them.
"How dare you attack my brother-in-law?" Miss Calamity's eyes spewed fire. "You're lucky he's fine or you have no idea how much of a calamity you'd have brought onto this kingdom."
A sigh of relief was heard from some people.
Since Varian was still alive, Miss Calamity wouldn—
"But even if he's fine, you have a price to pay for the actions."
An uncontrollable killing intent shot out from the veiled beauty, locking the four dukes.
Her power was so great that even though they were seperated by a single sub-realm and she was significantly injured and spent, the four dukes couldn't even put up any resistance.
Like pigs tied to be slaughtered, they froze in place, their proud strength utterly useless.
With a flick of her wrist, a mass of dark green aura coalesced in the lady's palm.
In a swift and graceful motion, she raised her arm and pointed at her targets.
The ones who couldn't bear to witness the tragedy closed their eyes.
The pillars of the kingdom, the dukes, were about to be slaughtered and there wasn't a word they could say in protest, much less try any resistance.
This was what the pinnacle of power was like.
Numbers wouldn't matter, whether in millions of billions. Territory couldn't hold them hostage, be it a duchy or a kingdom.
Now, it wouldn't even take a blinking moment before the pillars of the kingdom become history.
"Enough!"
A suffocating aura, one heavier and more solid than the fluctuating one of Miss Calamity descended on the district.
A man bathed in golden light, akin to a heavenly spirit of the legends, appeared like a sun in the darkness.
His aura, gentle and kind, lifted off the pressure from the shoulders of the troops everyone.
The shining golden aura on his face rendered his expression imperceptible to everyone.
Looking at Miss Calamity with a look of fury, he waved his hand in dismissal. "Do not cross the line. Touching a kingdom's pillars wouldn't go without punishment."
Miss Calamity narrowed her eyes. "You're the one behind this, aren't you? The timing is so damn suspicious."
"Accusing me to justify your mad actions?" Martial Saint Kong didn't appear flustered at all. With contempt flowing out his tone, he let out a disdainful chuckle.
